Paramount isn't so pumped about the Michael Bay produced Ninja Turtles as the production has been put on pause. The film which will be directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of The Titans) had been aimed for a Christmas 2013 release date but has been pushed back till May 16th 2014. Apparently this is allow more time for script fixes along with possible re-tooling of it's direction. There's also reports that the budget is being cut down $10-20 million for a budget total of $125 million. Rumors had been circling that Krang would be the villain which might be the reason for the rewrites.

It looks like Jonah Hill will be in Django Unchained afterall. Deadline says that Hill has taken a role in the anticipated Southern flick. Originally, Jonah had been liked for the role of Scotty Harmony who is sold Django's wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). He won't be playing Scotty so it's anyone's guess who he'll be playing. It's possible he could be replacing Joseph Gordon-Levitt as one of the Australian hicks.

During the London red carpet premire of Snow White And The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders was asked by HeyUGuys about what was he next project. He was coy about a Huntsman sequel but revealed an untitled science fiction project that was being influenced by The Battle of Algiers. I just realized what Rupert could have been referring to with his ambiguous statement. It could end up being the long in-development reboot of Dune.

When Ridley Scott was attached to direct Dune he intended to split the book into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using The Battle of Algiers as a point of reference, before moving on to direct Blade Runner instead. This little tidbit of information is from Ridley Scott: The Making of his Movies by Paul M. Sammon. The original Dune was a massive flop but would eventually become a cult favorite similar to Ridley's Blade Runner. It's possible this could have been a slight hint to sci-fi fans from Rupert.

Directors Peter Berg (Hancock, Battleship) and Pierre Morel (Taken, From Paris With Love) been attached to a new Dune film before the project went into limbo. It's quite possible that Rupert is at least in talks with Paramount and the Dune rights holder to put together a new package for the reboot. Sanders has a visual presence that dwarves previous attached directors. Along with his fantasy background from making Huntsman he also has a sci-fi background helming live-action commercials for Halo. Sanders had been inline to take over the Halo film from Neill Blomkamp before that project went into limbo too. I think if given a solid script Sanders could help develop one hell of a new Dune franchise. He's still in talks with Universal for the Huntsman sequel which isn't a done deal (Sanders only signed up for one film).

June 14, 2012

Joe Cornish has lined up his next film which will be a cyberpunk thriller based on the novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Cornish has had an interesting bit of success with his first film Attack The Block becoming a big hit among genre fans. He also helped write the Tintin script with his Ant-Man co-writer Edgar Wright. Joe had been in the mix to replace Hunger Games director Gary Ross for it's sequel Catching Fire.

Set in the near future, when the U.S. exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and private enterprise and the mafia control everything. The plot involves a computer virus that is manifested as a drug called Snow Crash that is transmitted visually from computer screens to unsuspecting users, frying their brains. Hiro Protagonist – that’s the character’s name – a computer hacker/samurai swordsman/pizza delivery driver who investigates and tries to stop the takeover of postmodern civilization.

Oscar nominated actress Jessica Chastain talked to TotalFilm about having to turn down a role in Iron Man 3. You might remember Jessica was offered a supporting role but would have to turn it down due the production of Karthyrn Bigelow's (Hurt Locker) Zero Dark Thrity (Seal Team Six film). The role would eventually go to Rebecca Hall. Jessica is being very political about it and seemingly gives the impression would could see her involved in future Marvel films. Theres plenty of roles she could be perfect for such as Enchantress, Scarlet Witch, Sharon Carter, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) and Medusa (Inhumans). She seems a little too high-profile for just small supporting role. I could see Chastain taking a role that would eventually become a franchise. Similar to how Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner were introduced in the Marvel films.

"It's always a good problem to have because it means you have options. It's not really a problem, but it was just impossible, schedule-wise. So I was sad. I met Shane Black earlier and I think he's going to make an amazing film. And of course I went to see Avengers Assemble earlier and I loved it. I hope to be in a Marvel film."

It's being reported that French actor and recent Oscar winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) is now in talks to join Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. The 80's financial thriller already stars Leonardo DiCaprio Jonah Hill and Kyle Chandler. Jean would play a Swiss banker involved in laundering illicit funds for the protag’s (DiCaprio) firm. Marty isn't messing around casting-wise and we should expect more big names to get involved soon as production starts.

Variety reports that Hugh Laurie (Black Adder, House) is up for the villain role in Robocop. The remake would see Hugh play a villainous OCP (Omni Consumer Products) CEO who should end up being Dick Jones or a version of him. The rest of the cast includes Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish with a release date of August 9th 2013.

Thanks to this amazing cover artwork from artist Andy Park we have our first full glimpse at the Mavel Cinematic Universe take on Thanos. This concept art comes from the Avengers production as Mr. Park has been involved with a majority of the Marvel Studios' movies. Time will tell when we'll actually see the Titan on screen again.

While you may think that Bryan Cranston (John Carter, Total Recall, Drive, ) aims to be in every big film during an interview with Collider he reveals he turned down a rather big film. Bryan says he had been offered the role of Sebastian Shaw the leader of the Hellfire Club and villain of X-Men First Class while looking at another project. He weighed the two roles by how much he liked the characters and went with Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive instead. He mentions there was another role offered which I'd have assume was Stryker.

I read for the Kevin Bacon role in X-Men: First Class. And it was like, “Ah, there’s a possibility. ” Then there was this thing happening over here. It’s kind of like things coming up like materials and projects that are coming in and out. Quite often, it’s almost like a wave. “Here it comes, here it comes. . . oh no, that wave didn’t break. ” Why? Funding went this way, the lead dropped out, any number of things can happen. Or the studio says it’s too much money. Projects ebb and flow all the time, and the same thing in an actor’s career. There’s interest, and there’s ebbing and flowing all the time. “You have the offer! Oh, no you don’t. ” So, that was happening. They offered it to Kevin, and they offered me a different role in it.

At the same time, I read Drive, and I thought, “Oh, this is what I’d rather do. ” I turned down X-Men for the role in Drive because I liked the character better. Much better. The experience with Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman and Carey [Mulligan]—it was terrific. We had a great time. What was so much fun about it is that we’d go over to Nicolas Refn’s, the director’s, house in the canyons, and we’d all get together with the writer, and we would pitch out ideas and thoughts. “What about this? What about that? ” There’s nothing more satisfying than to have your thoughts and comments welcomed and incorporated in the script. So, we really feel ownership and part of that. You’re not just a hired hand, coming in, doing your job, and leaving. And Nicolas took a real kind of film noir, European feel to it, and it’s really hip and cool.

Cranston has a massive following thanks to Breaking Bad which is going into it's last season. I'm sure he'll be pursued again by Fox for the First Class sequel. If the sequel is taking cues from Days of Future Past we could see humans becoming the villains creating the Sentinels. Scientists Bolivar Trask and Stephen Lang are some of the people involved with the creation of the Sentinels.

Trask had appeared in X3 played by Bill Duke (Predator, Commando) and his character is credited for building Magneto's prison and the mutant prisoner transport which held Raven, Juggernaut and Multiple Man. First Class is a reboot of sorts so I wouldn't be shocked to see Trask retooled.

June 11, 2012

There is breaking news via Variety that an offer from Lionsgate has gone out to Philip Seymour Hoffman (MI3, Boogie Nights, Big Lebowski, The Master) for the role of Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire. The Hunger Games sequel has Francis Lawrence set to direct this summer with a release date of November 22nd 2013.

British actor Ray Winstone (Departed, Sexy Beast) has been offered the villain role in Darren Aronofsky's (Black Swan, Requiem For A Dream) Noah. The film was scripted by John Logan (Gladiator, Last Samurai) stars Russell Crowe, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth and Emma Watson. Other actors that have been circling the project include Jennifer Connelly, Julianne Moore, Saorise Ronan and Liev Schreiber.

I'm not one for using British tabloids as sources but this rumor from The Sun is too interesting to pass on. They "report" that Matt Damon is eyeing a role in the Magnificent Seven originally played by Steve McQueen. Tom Cruise has already been confirmed by the trades for the lead role which could help attract other high-profiled talent The paper also sites more likely candidates such as Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner also looking to join the film. The original 1960 western was an American take on the classic Akira Kurosawa film The Seven Samurai. We should expect an explosive amount of westerns put into production if Quentin Tarantino's western/southern mash-up Django Unchained ends up making a giant slash at the box office.

Deadline reports that Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth (Avengers, Thor, Cabin In The Woods) is attached to a high seas thriller titled In The Heart of The Sea. The film is based on the true-life events that would eventually inspire the fictional story Moby Dick. It's script was adapted from Nathaniel Philbrick's novel by Charles Leavitt (Blood Dimoand) and Ed Zwick (Last Samurai, The Siege) had been attached to direct. Ed has since moved on to make The Great Wall for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. They mention if the director is still attached but I have assume not. I'm sure it will be interesting to see what the directors the high-profiled project will attract. Pair this with Hemsworth's racing bio-pic Rush and the young actor just might be aiming for an Oscar nomination.

The fact-based tale of Nantucket whaling ship the Essex, which was stalked and ultimately destroyed by a sperm whale in 1820. Stranded thousands of miles from home, the crew struggled to survive; they were lost at sea for 90 days. Eight were rescued.

Sony had rebooted the Spider-Man with the Amazing Spider-Man heading to theaters next month. The studio has already tapped James Vanderbilt to start work on Amazing Spider-Man 2 and it's been given a release date of May 2nd 2014. It's possible the sequel's villain will be teased or introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man. I understand Spidey fans are anticipating the return of Norman Osborn and The Green Goblin but there are plenty of other villains to consider. Also, everyone knows that Gobby kills Gwen Stacy and the studio isn't likely willing to go that route so early. We should expect the studio to bring in unused villains for the next couple of films. I have my own theory that The Jackal is a very strong candidate.

JACKAL AND KAINE: In this new film there have been hints that Peter may or may not be a genetic experiment developed by his parents. Genetics has always been apart of the Spidey mythos but it could mean that the clone saga could rear it's head. The Jackal is the brains behind the secret program to clone Spider-Man which leads to the powerful villain Kaine. Oscorp has been thought to house a majority of these villains in the making for the new franchise. So it's possible a slew of unused villains could stream out of the company such as Smythe and The Jackal.

As the sequel is already heading into production we should assume the villain will be introduced in the first film. In the more recent trailer for Amazing Spider-Man there is shadowy figure that questions Connors in prison about Peter discovering the truth about his father. Many are assuming this is Norman Osborn because Oscorp is front and center in the film. However, this man seems a little too dishevelled to be the usually impressively dressed Norman. My theory is that he could be Dr. Miles Warren who becomes the Jackal leading to the ominous powerhouse Kaine. I also wouldn't count out this being Smythe as he's featured in the video game tie-in. Having Warren/Jackal as a straight up evil scientist and not "changed/conflicted" by an accident like all the previous villains would be something fresh. Not to mention he's a character I could believe killed Parker's parents. Perhaps, blackmailing them to work for him and his illegal cloning experiments or risk the safety of Peter.

One reason why this might not be Jackal is the death of Gwen Stacy. Green Goblin kills Gwen in the comics and if the Jackal is plausible that could mean that Parker could his cloning technology to bring Gwen back. If that's the case then Jackal wouldn't get involved until after the return of Green Goblin. That being said killing off Gwen (and keeping her dead) could ground this reboot similar to the death of Uncle Ben and Harry. Kaine could also come into play as a misunderstood villain and would eventually become one of Spidey's allies.

OTHER POSSIBLE VILLAINS

DR. MICHAEL MORBIUS: Raimi had talked to Empire magazine about bringing the living-vampire into his Spidey franchise during the early days of Spider-Man 4. He also went into more detail about his love of vampires when asked about Morbius by Fear during press for Drag Me To Hell. The only issue would be the Morbius rights might be attached to Blade which is now back with Marvel Studios. The character had originally been wanted for the Blade sequel and even had showed up at the end of the first film in a deleted scene.

“I like it in the Marvel comics when Spider-Man fights Morbius,” said Raimi. “He’s really cool. A vampire! I like that combination of superhero plus supernatural.”

"I Guess They're... umm, very appealing like the best of villains. They have some positive qualities, That is they can be very sexy and alluring, and umm they way in which they attack you is a very sensual it's almost something you desire. You know the bat, we're all scared of bats. Ew! so thats kind of cool. Some vampire stories go there some of them don't obviously. But umm, that why I like the fact that there's a cure against them in some of the lore like the garlic, or the cross. Thats really interesting, that there's a way to stop them. There's a whole story that can be made with all those elements so its got some real rules and laws. And then you could be turned into one of them, is interesting also. There's a lot of enticing qualities for a story teller and audience."

The main reason the Lizard ended up becoming the villain Amazing Spider-Man was the outcry from fans. Raimi had teased Dr. Connors for his last two films but ended up pursuing other villains for Spider-Man 4. The reboot went into development and the Lizard championed by the online community and Spider-Man fans alike. Depending on if Sony owns the rights to Morbius it would be a different type of villain than we've seen before as he's more of a horror creature than science experiment. While interesting his development into the living-vampire could have similar origins to The Lizard.

KRAVEN THE HUNTER: Besides the Lizard the most wanted classic villain fans have wanted to see is Kraven. Considering they've been using the Ultimate version of Spider-Man in the new film it's possible to a more plausible version as Kraven is a TV celebrity. The main trend of the villain selections (minus Venom) has been using classic villains Green Goblin, Doc Octopus and Sandman. If they wanted to bring the Sinister Six into the fray they'd have to bring Kraven into the franchise. Electro, Vulture, Shocker and Rhino (Paul Gimanti had lobbied for the role) could also be some classic villains to be considered.

DR. ALISTAIRE SMYTHE: An interesting aspect with Smythe is that he's established in the Amazing Spider-Man video game as an Oscorp employee. Apparently the game is tied with the new film so it could mean Smythe will be involved. Smythe is best known for development of many different generations of Spider Slayers. It doesn't seem like the best option but still it would be interesting to see a non-transformed threat and see more of a raobotic villain.

Sony hasn't revealed too much about their Spider-Man spin-off Venom concerning it's direction. What we do know is that it will have a script from Rhett Resse and Paul Wernick. The pair had previously wrote Zombieland and a promising script for the X-Men spin-off Deadpool. Josh Trank who make the small-budget superpower film Chronicle has been linked for director's chair. Some might remember that a pre-Hunger Games Gary Ross was originally attached to direct during it's early development. Topher Grace won't be reprising the role seemingly confirming that we'll see the anti-hero get a new origin separate from Spider-Man 3. Spider-Man producer Avi Arad has revealed that this movie will follow the classic story of Eddie Brock. I'm sure in the weeks leading up to and after the release of The Amazing Spider-Man we'll be hearing more from Avi and Sony on the project.

"It's an Eddie Brock story," said Arad. "We want to be as close to the comics as possible. Especially in Eddie Brock's story. But again, pseudo-sceince is becoming science. All these tidbits about webs, artificial webs, is a huge industry now. Spiderwebs have unique qualities that will be huge for communications, fibers, and so forth. So we have taken the approach that we want to make the huge amazing movie about Eddie." Tolmach adds, "He was a journalist. He had the wrong story, he got in trouble for it, he got fired. The whole essence to us for the Marvel characters. Stay close to the bible, stay close to the emotional story, and the rest is fun."

There had been some question to who would don the Venom symbiote since Brock hasn't been the only one and Sony would have access to other characters. Mac Gargan, the Spidey villain Scorpion had taken over the suit and was added to the lineup of the Thunderbolts. More recently Flash Thompson was re-envisioned as a disabled war hero given the Venom symbiote by the government. Flash is hired by the government to be a special agent wearing the Venom symbiote. Flash is only allowed to wear the suit for up to 48 hours, or risk a permanent bonding with the symbiote. The Government is also equipped with a "kill switch" designed to take Flash out if he loses control. That doesn't mean we won't see these characters explored eventually.

The symbiote sagas don't exactly fit into the Spider-Man franchise since they are traditionally dark material and include a body count. If anything a Venom film could benefit from a mature adaptation similar to Blade. Considering it would be hard to bring a serial killer supervillain like Carnage (a mass murderer) in a PG-13 franchise like Amazing Spider-Man. However, the sheer volume of characters involved could be enough to keep a mature franchise going. Carnage and Scream could end up becoming possible villains leading to more symobites and more mature Spider-Man universe villains making appearances. I could also see villains such as Sorpion (a little too similar to The Lizard for Spidey sequels) and possibly Morbius (apart of Marvel's Blade rights?) the living-vampire.

June 10, 2012

Prometheus has divided fans and new audiences alike but is an interesting addition to the longstanding Alien saga. Before it's development as an Alien prequel Prometheus had originally been discussed as Alien 5 seeing the return of Ripley. There had been talks between Ridley Scott and James Cameron on how to continue the Ripley story in another movie. Scott and Cameron had planned on becoming producing partners with Jim handling the direction. They presented this pitch to the studio only to have Fox move forward with the infamously terrible AVP. Cameron spoke to AICN stating the studio made him upset choosing AVP over a Scott/Cameron Alien 5.

Fox would later greenlight Avatar and Cameron has been obsessed with his $2.8 billion franchise's future ever since. He has since announced that Alita and the Avatar sequels will be his only focus from now on. This dashes any chances of Jim returning to director future Alien or Terminator films. It's sill fun to imagine what could have been if Jim and Ridley ended up working together on the fifth installment.

"Yeah. Ridley and I talked about doing another ALIEN film and I said to 20th Century Fox that I would develop a 5th ALIEN film. I started working on a story, I was working with another writer and Fox came back to me and said, "We've got this really good script for ALIEN VS PREDATOR and I got pretty upset. I said, "You do that you're going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind." Because to me, that was FRANKENSTEIN MEETS WEREWOLF. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other."

A quote from Dark Horizons in 2003 gives the impression the film would have brought the series back to the original roots of Aliens. A hard-nosed action film with plenty of character development and a familiar face added to the cast. Cameron and Ridley were going to develop a new story with Sigourney back as Ripley and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a new supporting role along with a new lineup of interesting characters. How these new characters would have factored into this project isn't fully known. There had been talk of going to the xenomorph's harsh home planet (Pandora?) which could have come from Jim's then unproduced script for Avatar.

"To an extent. yes. We’re looking at doing another one. Something similar to what we did with Aliens. A bunch of great characters, and of course Sigourney. I’ve even discussed the possibility of putting him [Arnold Schwarzenegger] into the Alien movie."

RUNDOWN OF ALIEN 4 AND WHEDON'S ALIEN 5 SCRIPT

Alien Resurrection like every other Alien film had script issues and an interesting group of prospective directors. Some future big names were involved in early talks which included Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Trainspotting), Peter Jackson (pre-Lord of The Rings) and Bryan Singer (pre-X-Men). The studio ended up going with French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet who was known for his unique visual style at the time. Toy Story screenwriter Joss Whedon was hired to develop a script which for the most part kept getting rejected by the studio. An early draft focused on a clone of Newt from Aliens but would later be asked to change it to Ripley, a third-act set on Earth was also axed. Joss wrote five versions of the final act none of which ended up in final film. Whedon is best known for writing excellent characters and the pirates of the Betty had the Whedon stamp all over them.

In the director's cut, the Betty lands on Earth leaving the door open for the return of Ripley, Call, Johner and Vriess for Alien 5. Whedon wrote a script for Alien 5 which would take place on Earth ending with a battle for the planet but Weaver couldn't buy into it's setting. It would eventually develop into what we know now as Prometheus and the Ripley saga has pretty much ended. A very interesting juxtapose as years later Joss would see his name alongside Cameron with Avengers becoming the 3rd highest grossing movie of all-time just under Titanic. Do you think 20th Century Fox should maybe consider hiring Whedon to write the Prometheus sequel's script?

ALIEN 3 COULD HAVE ALSO BEEN DIRECTED BY CAMERON

Cameron had a similar issue trying to put Alien 3 together as he was committed to make a Terminator sequel first. Jim had planned to keep Ripley, Newt, Hicks and Bishop alive for the next installment as an unconventional family unit placed in a new story. The studio got impatient with Cameron and started work on hiring a new director and developing stories/scripts. The director didn't mix words about the botched sequel and gave a true reaction to his much-loved characters being killed off. I couldn't agree with Jim more here as the franchise never really was able to recreate the identifying characters that were showcased in Aliens.

"This isn’t a man whose going to whitewash his opinion either, take for example his reaction to “Alien 3″ – “Hated it. Simple as that. I hated what they did…. I couldn’t stand Alien 3 – how they could just go in there and kill off all these great characters we introduced in aliens, and the correlation between mother and daughter. It stunk, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to rectify all that."

Fox hoped they could convince Ridley Scott to come back for the third installment which didn't work out. Weaver had made it known she felt slighted by the studio when they cut her emotional scenes in Aliens and really wanted to be done with Ripley. So producers would start develop early concepts focusing around Hicks being the new hero in "a complex two-part story that offered the underhanded Weyland-Yutani Corporation facing off with a militarily aggressive culture of humans whose rigid socialist ideology has caused them to separate from Earth's society" development during the early stages. Weaver's role in Alien 3 would have been just a cameo which she seemed happy with. Then Alien 4 would bring her back "in an epic battle with alien warriors mass produced by the expatriated Earthlings." Having Michael Biehn become the new face of the franchise seemed like a natural progression and logical way to keep the films going. He did prove in both Terminator and Aliens he was capable as an action star similar to Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

One of the scripts had the inclusion of a prison planet where the population was being experimented by the company which was written by David Twohy (influencing his Riddick franchise?). That aspect of David's script was used along with some bits from others. By the end of it the producers ended up rewriting the shooting script with Weaver back in the lead earning for the time a big paycheck of $5 million. Fox hired newcomer David Fincher and had one of the most worked on scripts in the franchise history. There had been six different writers (William Gibson, Eric Red, David Twohy, Walter Hill, Vincent Ward, David Giler) not including the uncredited work from Fincher and Rex Pickett. The producers felt it necessary to kill off both Hicks and Newt within the opening of the film. Whatever the reason this choice pretty much destroyed any hope of Cameron's ideas to be put on screen.

Cameron's additions to the franchise are legendary having some of the biggest impacts on the mythology besides the original film. He helped usher in the Alien Queen along with expanding the long arm of Weyland-Yutani's greed and expendable employees (colonists/marines). We get too see off-world colonies done seriously and some of the best practical effects in movie history. The horror of Hadley's Hope has to be the greatest moment in sci-fi horror history because the siege on the colonists was never shot, you're imagination fills in the gory details. Not to mention creating some of the most memorable quotes and characters of the entire saga. It's a shame that Cameron will never direct another Alien film but there is always hope he can be involved in other ways, maybe as story consultant?

SPOILER ALERT This entire post includes massive spoilers from Prometheus and other Alien films. If you havent watched any of these films skip over this article. The film asks more questions than it answers and a lot of people have been disappointed by this but the film was always envisioned as a two-part story. SPOILER ALERT

CREW: You've been given plenty of warnings so I'll jump right into it. Shaw and David are only survivors of the Prometheus crew and on their way to the Engineers/Space Jockey planet (in an alien ship piloted by Dave). We now know that the Space Jockey's planet is going to be massive part of the sequel. Shaw wants know why the Engineers created humans only to want to wipe them out (with the black goo which is a bio-weapon). The real question is if there was disaster on this military instillation planet why didn't the rest of the Engineers move forward with wiping out Earth. I would assume that either the Engineers have died off on their homeworld in a similar fashion because of the black ooze or they regret the mission. It's possible that they're

ENGINEERS: The carbon dated dead Engineer had been lying around for over 2,000 years. At that point in human history the large event was the crucifixion of Christ. Rumblings online have speculated that Jesus was an Engineer sent to calm down a warring human popular with messages of love and peace. This ended up with a brutal/violent death for this messenger and angered the "gods". One of the murals in the cave is a xenomorph like creature in a crucified pose. There are correlations that Weyland is essentially a modern Roman Empire looking to conquer the universe and setting up colonies.

It's quite possible the Engineers understand that humans will eventually discover space travel and could be a massive threat to the universe including them. Our bloodlust instinct would rather have us destroy than build, with the Engineers are our creators seeing us a failure. That being said the one in this film is all about killing and completing the mission he had originally been tasked to carry out. We have no idea if they'll be peaceful once Shaw makes it to their planet.

Self-sacrifice has always been a theme of the franchise not to mention religion. Mainly, Ripley somewhat becoming a Jesus-like figure in the latter films. In Alien 3 we see Ripley as a Mother Mary/Jesus figure as she carries a Queen and kills herself to save innocent lives which is pretty much human redemption from our past evils. Of course Rips would end up getting her own resurrection in Alien 4 only to find out she's human/alien clone hybrid (pretty much superhuman). They might want to explore Jesus in an intro similar to the beginning of Prometheus or that aspect being explained by the Engineers themselves.

XENOMORPHS: We never really find out what wiped out the Engineers but we do get a tease of what the DNA ooze can do. However, we do somewhat get an idea where the xenomorph's origin comes from. Holloway ingests the goo without his knowledge then has sex with Shaw. The barren doctor ends up with alien-like fetus which see pulls out of her body on her own. It's a squid-like alien creature that ends up growing a massive amount (like the xenomorph chestburster to warrior/drone) grabbing the Engineer acting like a giant-squid version of the facehugger. The Jockey acting as the host leads to a xeno-like creature bursting out of him. This very well could be the first Alien Queen.

A couple of things give me the impression more will happen on the planet before LV-223 is re-classified as LV-426 in Alien. Leading to the Nostromo setting down in 2127, thirty years after the events of Prometheus. The dead Space Jockey (killed by a chestburster) and egg room with some sort of laser barrier (Engineer tech to keep the eggs from hatching?) aren't fully explained yet. It's possible the Alien Queen sets up shop in the now derelict ship while Shaw and David are trying to answer their questions. In Alien, someone (new character, Shaw?) is in the Space Jockey suit likely to get oxygen only to have a xenomorph burst out of their chest. There is air in the crashed ship but in Alien they needed suits to breathe. I assume that the terraforming tech is damaged or stolen during the next film. Maybe it's the only piece of technology Weyland is allowed to take from the planet as it's the means of life not death.

WEYLAND WEAPONS DIVISION: After the events of Prometheus, Weyland would likely want answers why the crew hasn't returned if Peter Weyland and next in-line Vickers are among the lost crew. Knowing aliens are involved in their mission could bring a large military force to the planet along with another group of genetic scientists in-case of first contact and alien-contagions. I wouldn't be surprised to see Weyland makeshift a weapons program on the planet only for it to go wrong. Prometheus took elements from AVP and made them more interesting/cinematic. I could see a sequel re-working the themes from Alien Resurrection (military operation) to fit better into this universe.

One steady theme within the entire Alien franchise is that the company has seemingly known about the alien's existence previous to the events of Alien. Ash receiving orders the alien is extremely valuable and the crew of the Nostromo is expendable. Like David, Ash could have allowed events to take place as a science experiment for the company. Allowing Kane on board (which could have killed the whole crew) and trying to smother Ripley when his orders are discovered. My theory is that Weyland once got their hands on it and it was somehow lost to them. Perhaps, David erased all information from the Weyland databases making the planet LV-223 full of bio-weapon gold lost to them. Until they start colonizing it as LV-426.

There are plenty of science fiction avenues they could explore within this new franchise. However, fans of the franchise want to see the classic xenomorph back in action. This might really be our only chance before they move into different aspects with Shaw as the new Ripley.

June 9, 2012

It's been almost two years since the release of Predators. As Prometheus rolled into theaters this weekend I couldn't help but think, where is our Predators sequel? Robert Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal had been talking mentions a string of new Predator films being but have since moved on to other projects. 20th Century Fox had invested $40m for the production which ended up making around $150m in box office and DVD/BluRay sales. Not bad for a low budget action flick but they'll likely have to amp things up for the studio to be willing to shell out more money.

"[The first film] sets up a new storyline, new location and world, and then you can really go crazy from there....[The studio] said, 'Let's do some other ones. What other story ideas do you have?'" says the filmmaker. "Because it was like, let's test out the market with this one. They really wanted it to be pretty contained, pretty scaled-back. They didn't want to put too many of the ideas into it that we could save for a second one. So we could see what the appetite was, because the bigger movie would actually be what comes following that. That kind of sets up a new storyline, new location and world, and then you can really go crazy from there."

PREDATOR WAR: One thing that was hinted at during Predators is a full scale war among the predator clans. We saw a bit of this clash between the two predators and the tail-end. Predator culture for the most part has been a mystery to audiences. A sequel could explore this slightly more and a clash among clans would be something explosive to see.

There was an epic shot in the original trailer with Adrien Brody having a massive amount of predator laser targets lit up on him. This would later be revealed as a marketing trick as it ended up being only one target in the actual film. If we don't see a war at the very least they can amp up the sequel by increasing the amount of predators running around ala Aliens.

HUMANS WITH PREDATOR/ALIEN TECH: With the predator camp wiped out their cloaking devices and weapons are open game. Robert Rodriguez's original Predator sequel script (that didn't end up getting used) included a group of humans using predator gear. This could be an interesting aspect seeing humans brought to the planet arming themselves with cloaking devices and weapons. Waiting for the next horde of hunters to land their ship. This had been teased with Noland banding together whatever scraps he could find over the years. I don't see the AVP comics great source material but they have an interesting human/predator character Machinko.

THE RETURN OF DUTCH: Robert Rodriguez has stated that Predators would be a smaller film compared to the next film which would have bigger action sequences. It's not saying much considering Predators showed it's lack of budget from the get-go. The predators were really the draw of the film since they didn't have a real action star to headline the picture. Schwarzenegger had originally been wanted for a role but would later go to Laurence Fishburne playing Noland. Arnold is now back grinding out action films and had originally announced plans to be involved with a Predator reboot when he exited the governor's mansion.

"Well, first of all it's more like 15 films, obvious ones from The Terminator to remakes of Predator and The Running Man and all of those things. Then also a lot of original stuff too. But I am also packaging a Comic Book character right now. I'm going to announce that sometime by the end of March or the beginning of April."

His character Dutch factored in Robert's Predator sequel spec-script but that screenplay was reworked for Predators. There had been a giant plot including Dutch being taken to the Predator homeworld to entertain the population in gladiator area pitted against deadly aliens. Producer John Davis had talked to Collider giving the impression that Arnold could be back for the next installment if it ever get's made.

"If we were going to do it with Arnold; it was like, “Does it make sense to go back and to put him with a young team?” So maybe it’s 20 years later, you have retired, and you are the one person who has survived one of these encounters. Is that a reboot in the fact that you are in it with a group of young guys? Is that a reboot? You just have to figure out a way to reboot it. Rodriguez rebooted it. It’s all in the planet. The sequel to the first one rebooted it. We should’ve had Arnold in the movie. The deal broke down over $250,000, which is a shame. But it was moved from the jungle to the city. You have to create a freshness about it. When we did Alien vs. Predator we kind of rebooted it because we put the two pieces together. You just have to give it enough time to come up with a new freshness. It is what they did so brilliantly with Fast Five."

RODRIGUEZ COULD DIRECT IN 3D: Although Nimród Antal directed the last installment Fox might concerned he won't be able to amp up the action for the sequel. It might be a sticking point for Rodriguez to direct for the film to move forward. Fox will have a long wait on their hands as Robert
will be shooting Machete Kills, Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For and Fire And Ice this year alone.

"I haven't talked to [20th Century Fox] in a while. I know they liked the idea of doing another one," he explained. "I should probably call and check in. I've just been busy doing these other things."

We've been seeing a rather large rise in R rated films getting the 3D treatment. Only a few are actually shooting in the format like Prometheus and the upcoming Dredd (Judge Dredd reboot). Robert had been a pioneer in the early days of the 3D revival and will be shooting Sin City 2 in the updated format. 3D conversations are usally giant studio cash-graps by boosting the ticket prices. However, a film like a Predators sequel could really optimize the experience if shot using that camera system.

We've been hearing bits and pieces of possible storylines for the X-Men First Class sequel. During the week it was revealed that Fox registered the film title Days of Future Past leading us to believe the famous alternative time-line could be used as source material. That could mean that we could see the return of both Kitty Pryde and Wolverine. Lucas Till who plays Havok has his own idea who he'd like to see join the X-Men lineup as he talks with IGN. He mentions Polaris (Lorna Dane) as a possible love interest who had been teased in X2 on Stryker's computer which also included Gambit. Currently, Till hasn't been listed as a returning cast member for the sequel. One thing the X-Men in the sequel will be lacking is female members so it's likely characters like Jean Grey, Rogue (rebooted) and Storm could be making appearances as well. You never know with this new franchise they could make Havok and Polaris the parents of Cyclops.

"All I know is that my mom told me we're going to start shooting in January. It's funny because she tells me everything that goes on before I know. I don't know if you saw, but Havok shoots hula hoops out of his body. I remember when (director Matthew Vaughn) told me, and I was like, 'NOOOO!' It's going to ruin it for all the fans of Havok and I tried to make the best of it, but I really hope in the next one that the chest piece—because there's always that circle in the middle so you could tell where his power level was at—but not necessarily used as a device to channel the energy from. I want some gauntlets or something to shoot it out of my hands, and I want Polaris in there. I want a sexy green-haired girl to fall in love with. That's all I'm asking for."

Charlize Theron is having a massive comeback as the Oscar winning actress received critical praise for her role in last year's Young Adult. Along with commercial success thanks to Snow White And The Huntsman and this weekend's Prometheus. Theron could have been in the mix for another big project if she wasn't set to make Mad Max: Fury Road alongside Tom Hardy this summer. Her Huntsman co-star Chris Hemsworth was asked by MTV to comment on Enchantress in the sequel and the fan-casting of Charlize.

"I don't know much at all but it sounds interesting," Chris Hemsworth told MTV when asked for his thoughts on the recent Enchantress rumours. "I'm not playing the usual, sidestepping that we normally have to do, I haven't read a script. They have a bunch of different ideas, but that sounds interesting." After being told that his Snow White and the Huntsman co-star Charlize Theron is a fan favourite for the role, he said: "Oh right. Well she certainly plays a pretty intimidating villain, I think she'd be awesome but I think she's tied up in 20 other films. I think she's going on to 'Mad Max' next. [But] you never know. Fingers crossed!"

It sounds like she would have had a decent shot if wasn't for being busy this summer with Fury Road. Nothing is set in stone concerning Enchantress as the Asgardian hasn't even been confirmed to be in the sequel. Marvel could hold off using Amora until they're able to cast Theron in the third film. Having another Oscar winner among the cast couldn't hurt. Considering that Thor 2 won't be released until November 2013 they "could" shoot scenes later in the production. Hell, even a cameo could be awesome.

June 8, 2012

HeatVision reports that Marvel Studios is already gearing up to replace actor Josh Dallas in Thor 2. They say that Chuck star Zachary Levi is in early talks to be recast as Fandral. The interesting part here is that Levi was originally inline for role but his show Chuck was a conflict with Thor's production. Zachary had also lobbied for a role in Captain America: The First Avenger.